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Man who robbed Milford bank sentenced to 3½ years in prison

Albert J. Harnois III, 28, of Greenbush was sentenced Thursday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to eight years in prison with all but 3 ½ years suspended for the February robbery of the People’s United Bank inside a Milford convenience store. Harnois is seen here in February at the Penobscot Judicial Center with his attorney Joseph Belisle.

In addition, Albert J. Harnois III, 28, of Greenbush was sentenced to four years of probation and ordered to pay $815 in restitution — the difference between the approximately $10,800 Harnois left the bank with and the amount of money recovered, according to Penobscot County Assistant District Attorney Alice Clifford.

Harnois, pronounced HAR-noice, pleaded guilty just before being sentenced to Class B robbery and Class B theft. A third charge of failure to stop for an officer, a Class E crime, was dismissed in the plea agreement.

By pleading guilty, Harnois admitted that he walked into the Mobile on the Run, which has a small walk-up bank window and drive-through, and demanded money about 11:25 a.m. Feb. 3, Clifford told Superior Court Justice William Anderson shortly before he imposed the agreed-upon sentence. Harnois showed the teller the handle of a knife he had in his pants but did not brandish it, she said.

Defense attorney Richard Hall of Bangor said that Harnois was out of work and his wife was expecting a baby when he robbed the bank. He also had been mixing Suboxone and illegal drugs.

Harnois faced up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000. He has been held without bail at the Penobscot County Jail since his arrest about 35 minutes after leaving the bank.